Arts as Escapism The CreativeMindClass Blog

I'm from Venezuela. I was raised in a city that was very tropical surrounded by hills and palm trees, however I it was never allowed for me to experience my surroundings fully (partly because of the overprotection of my parents however, mostly due to the daily anxieties in my home country). Almost always indoors, TV and books became my main methods of entertainment - along with drawing! I was constantly drawing my most favorite characters from anime as well as my family, friends, pets I wasn't allowed to have, costumes, and anything really.

It was mostly a pastime, and I was somewhat aware that it would not be a full-time job in Venezuela. My family then decided to relocate to the UK, and this changed everything for me. In my teen years I had finally been granted some autonomy, and I was allowed to go to places on my own and think about what I really wanted to do.

My fascination with character design and narrative has led me to comics that in turn, led me to illustration. All the pieces became one. After a couple of years of studies (and many hours of effort), I'm now freelancing as an Illustrator in London.

My work I believe is bold, fun and somewhat wild (in a good way!). It can be straightforward and sometimes it's incredibly detailed; but every illustration has a person, or an animal, or some nice piece of landscape. I believe each illustration is one in the same.

For me, the most important thing is having fun with it. It is easy to think of things that delighted me growing in my youth: vibrant colours and characters that are sneaky, hilarious situations, tiny details to be lost in. The goal of my work is to capture as many of these elements when I design something fresh. If I can make the viewer feel excited or satisfied, or even feel that they've discovered something fascinating and interesting, then I've succeeded in what I wanted to achieve.

"Another important aspect for me is humor. It was apparent over time that I'm not the most adequate person to make very complex or abstract artworks, but I can be quite adept at making something fun and lighthearted to make someone laugh. I play to my strengths currently."

You can follow Marianna's creative journey on her Instagram and see detailed drawings of the books for children she created during lockdowns and some backstage shots of recoding her Skillshare class, just to mention just a handful. The links to the class as well as Marianna's books are available on her site.

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